My Bloody Valentine

Ireland, 1983–now

Irish-English band led by Kevin Shields. Loveless (1991) uses tremolo-arm pitch bending and layered guitar to blur individual notes, and is the central record of shoegaze.

MusicRoots documents 3 artists who influenced My Bloody Valentine and 12 artists My Bloody Valentine influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced My Bloody Valentine?

• The Jesus and Mary Chain — Shields has named hearing JAMC the pivot that turned MBV from jangle to noise — the You Made Me Realise turn.
• Hüsker Dü — Shields cited Hüsker Dü's melodic wall among the American models behind MBV's 1988 transformation.
• Sonic Youth — Sonic Youth's retuned-guitar vocabulary was documented licence for Shields's glide-guitar experiments.

Which artists did My Bloody Valentine influence?

• Slowdive — Halstead has named MBV the standard Slowdive formed against — the genre's text they answered with space instead of density.
• Ride — Seeing MBV live set Ride's course — the documented catalyst of their sound.
• Chapterhouse — Whirlpool's layered guitars follow the MBV blueprint the whole scene answered.
• Catherine Wheel — Ferment's layered guitar weather follows the MBV standard of the scene Catherine Wheel emerged into.
• Curve — Curve's guitar storms ride the MBV blueprint over programmed drums — the genre's text electrified differently.
• The Radio Dept. — The Radio Dept.'s hiss-wrapped guitars follow the My Bloody Valentine blueprint the whole dream-pop generation inherited.
• M83 — Gonzalez has named Loveless the record that made M83 possible — the guitar-as-synth cathedral behind Dead Cities.
• Silversun Pickups — Brian Aubert has said Silversun Pickups were shamelessly imitating My Bloody Valentine — he was surprised by the Smashing Pumpkins comparisons, having not heard them until after recording Carnavas.
• Crystal Castles — My Bloody Valentine's blown-out wall of noise is echoed in Crystal Castles' distorted, shoegaze-tinged electronica.
• The Smashing Pumpkins — My Bloody Valentine's shoegaze wall of guitar shaped the swirling texture of Siamese Dream.
• Wolf Alice — My Bloody Valentine's blurred shoegaze wall of guitar is a clear influence on Wolf Alice's dreamier, heavier textures.
• Boards of Canada — My Bloody Valentine's blurred, texture-drenched sound is a cited influence on Boards of Canada's hazy, nostalgic production.